Mania Stage 1 Upgrade Kit

[Luke]

Hey guys

I just want some opnions on the Mania Stage 1 upgrade kit.

I was going to do it, but I bumped into Lou at Hume Smash repairs ands he's pretty much talked me out of it.

His reasons were that if you just do stage 1 the car will start to run odd, since the airflow is completely different. Makes sense sicnce the ECU is set for whats standard in the car. Basically he said for it to work properely you should really do stage 2 as well, to do the computer upgrade. I don't have the money for that at the moment.


So does anyone else agree with the problems?

I will just do the exhaust if that is the case.
Lue recomended upgrading the Blow off valave to a Turbo Smart Kompact one with the exhaust. I think he said dual port.
So may as well ask what is a recomended BOV and what benefits will it give over the standard one.


Regards

Luke

[Fuzzlet]

I have the equivilent of the stage 1 kit and my car doesnt run oddly...infact with an extra 30kw atw over standard I think its money well spent

As for my BOV, I use a GFB plumb back. Work fine for me, I havent noticed any problems with it so far

[blackster]

What lou is stating is partly correct, some SE's experience wastegate creep and or MAF issues, when upgrading air intake, IC & exhaust; so you wont know if you will experience these issues until its done.

Upgrading the ECU will fix the MAF issues, however it wont fix wastegate creep. The ECU will allow you to fuel the car and retard timming whilst at higher boost.

The zorst alone should not cause you any issues other then give you more power, the upgraded recirculated valve will help prevent boost leak under full throttle. Unless you want a "full sik" sneeze, i suggest avoid the vent to atmosphere bov, VTA bov may also cause "idle" and "spluttering" issues on gear change with MAF sensored vehicles.

Your choices for direct bolt on re-circulated valves (20mm) are:

GFB Mach 1
Forge Diverter
Turbosmart kompact

[Smacca]

I basically have the same setup on my SE as the Mania Stage 1 kit, except I have a dual port GFB BOV attached to the Flyin Miata metal inlet intake pipe. And although the power increase is great and a lot of fun, you can tell the ECU is confused most of the time. The worst part is hitting fuel cut when the standard ECU detects boost increasing beyond the 11psi mark. Which is really annoying. I can wind out 1st and 2nd with no troubles, except 3rd gear often gets cut short around 4500rpm when under full throttle. I've installed a manual boost controller, which helps delay fuel cut, but it doesn't solve the problem. Of cause the new ECU will.

And although the car starts to build boost fairly quickly, it really doesn't hit the powerband until around 4500rpm where my car just surges ahead (feels like a Honda VTEC) and I loose traction. The problem is, it's all over only 2000rpm later. I'm not big on the technology or inner workings of a turbo, but you can tell the ECU is fighting to control the engine's power and keep it inline.

But I seriously do reccommend getting the stage 1 kit for the power and obvious performance increase. Although it really does need stage 2 to finish the package and refine the whole set up. I've had the stage 1 on my car no for 3 months and I booking in the stage 2 next week.

As for the BOV, I use a dual port GFB. The benefits of this is that 50% is recirculated back into the system so that keeps the MAF sensor happy (I have no issues with idle or "spluttering") and the other 50% is vent to atmosphere for the fully sick look-at-me sneeze.

Bottom line, definately get the stage 1, but start saving for the stage 2. And while we're at it, has anyone here installed the Mania stage 2 on their SE? I'm really keen for some feedback on it...

Smacca

[Luke]

Just did the exhaust and its a huge improvement.

The turbo spools so much quicker now.

Mania put it on the dyno as well and it put out 123kw. Even they were surprised at that so they did it again at a later time to make sure.
And then put on another car onto the dyno which they knew the power of to make sure the dyno was working right.


So all in all, very happy with the investment. It pretty much fixed the main issue I had with the car, turbolag.

[Craig]

So you only have the exhaust done yeh, not the intake and cooler as well?

[Luke]

Yep, just the exhaust.

Everything else is stock except inside the standard airbox there is a K&N panel instead of the crappy stock paper one.

Next upgrade will probably be slotted rotors when i wear out the standard pads. Won't take to long with a a couple of trackdays.

[Boyracer]

Good to hear you like the exhaust upgrade...definately the best starter for mods. on the SE...

Craig...you know you want it....the noise is great...stock SE is way too quiet.

[blackster]

Mania put it on the dyno as well and it put out 123kw. Even they were surprised at that so they did it again at a later time to make sure.
And then put on another car onto the dyno which they knew the power of to make sure the dyno was working right.

Impressive result, did you do a pre exhaust run?

On dyno dynamics in shoot out, my stock SE managed 101rwkw @ 7 psi, exhaust, BOV (also had a K&N flat panel) 114rwkw @ 7 psi, exhaust + IC & BOV 121rwkw @ 8 psi & exhaust, IC, BOV & CAI 135rwkw @ 10 psi.

The last result is what mania refer to now as "stage 1", seem's like so long ago. Back then there was only the SMB kit in terms of power mods for the SE, boyracer & myself; set the foundation with AEM, cooling pro & SP motorsports exhaust combination.

[Luke]

My car was not put on the dyno before the mod. I didn't even ask for it to be put on the dyno, so yeah got a freeby there. Guess thats what happens when you drop of your car for 1 day work and pick it up 3 days later.

However they have results from other standard SE's and they pull 98-101kw. They told me I would get about 117kw to 120kw doing the exhaust, so I don't know whats up with mine. I can't see the K&N panel filter giving me another 3kw. But that is the only other non standard part.

O yeah and I agree the noise is great, not to loud, barley noticeable at idle, well sort of and good mid range bass.

[blackster]

ummm plus one more......

You did have some of the combination in question, but was not the 1st guinea pig.

worth every cent IMO.

just do it

agreed.

[Sean]

Good to hear you are happy with the results. Don't get too tied up in dyno numbers, they vary a fair bit on different dyno types and can be easily fiddled if the dyno is not being used a very controlled and measured environment - They are best used as a tuning tool rather than an outright power measurement tool.

If it feels better to drive it's likely money well spent.

[dave2221]

thread resurection.

so the cheapest way to get horsepower out of the SE is an exhaust, good for about 20-30rwkw ey....

[Lokiel]

No, the cheapest way of gaining the most power fom a stock SE is a CAI, such as the AEM Short Ram intake (which is what MX5 Mania includes in their Stage 1 kit). You can hold off on the intercooler since it doesn't do anything for power unless your dinky OEM intercooler is getting heat soaked (which will probably only occur at the track, unless you drive everywhere like an adolescent male P-Plater hoon).

See http://www.flyinmiata.com/tech/MSM_upgrades.php for Flyin' Miata's recommended upgrade path but be aware that we cannot use their intake kit since our ABS is in the way, which is why many of us get the AEM CAI (or the BEGI CAI, http://www.bellengineering.net/product_info.php?cPath=4_26&products_id=146).

See also http://www.bellengineering.net/index.php?cPath=4_81 for BEGi's upgrade path.

As others have said, adding the intake+exhaust+injector upgrade mods does cause ECU issues (the ECU really cripples the SE) and there are cheap workarounds (resistor boost cut mod, tps mod, O2 signal mod, etc). I've had all these mods on my car for the last couple of years and they are workarounds which do not leave your car factory smooth but the extra power is definitely worth it for the subtle hiccups that occur.

After driving MINX's SE which has similar mods to mine plus a Haltech ECU, I wanted my car factory-smooth again so I bought an Adaptronic 440 ECU (SE version) which arrived this week - unfortunately I have to wait until next weekend to install it due to committments this weekend

I read up a lot on ECUs and the general consensus, which I agree with and am guilty of, is that people who mod their cars tend to buy ECUs too late, usually last, after all their performance mods. If you buy a tunable ECU, you can get your car running smoothly regardless of what mods you add and lower the risk of damaging your engine with "dodgy" mods. They're relatively expensive but you know that you'll eventually get one so if you can afford it, why not buy it earlier and save yourself the worry?

[Dandaman]

Having test dríven an SE with essentially the stage 1 mods before settling on the SE i bought (with ecu fitted) I have to agree with the posts above that you can sense the factory ecu is a little confused, it wasnt bad, just seemed a bit inconsistent through the gears with the foot down.